Visual novel publisher Sekai Project lays off staff

The visual novel publisher Sekai Project has laid off an undisclosed portion of its staff as a result of what the company has now described as a necessary restructuring effort.

Staff members affected by the layoffs first revealed the cuts on social media yesterday, and the company itself has now confirmed those early reports. Developer tweets spotted by RPGSite painted the layoff round as significant, with one dev tweeting “the entire office got laid off today.”

Sekai Project CEO Christopher Ling has since issued a statement on its website, saying that the layoffs were mostly focused on marketing departments and come as the company approaches an internal restructuring effort this week.

“Today, as many of you may have heard, we have had to make a very difficult decision in laying off many of our employees, co-workers, and friends from Sekai Project. The decision was difficult and we are sure it will impact many of them in the days to come and we wish them the best in their future endeavors," said Ling.

“Most of the staff that was let go over the course of the year was in marketing, whereas translation, programming, editing, and QC are still diligently working on current and future projects. In the coming days, the company will be going through a restructure so we can be more nimble, focused, proactive and more like the company we were when we first started.”

Ling goes on to note that some of Sekai Project’s in-development titles may be delayed “as we try to streamline our processes” but nothing has been outright canceled.

As always, if you or someone you know has been affected by these layoffs, you can email Gamasutra to share your story confidentially.